Seeing Celtic, Hearts and Aberdeen being beaten by teams from Gibraltar, Malta and Luxembourg respectively wasn’t great either.

However, the resignation of Performance Director Brian McClair has to be one of the most concerning outcomes of the season so far, and it’s still only July.

The former Motherwell, Celtic and Manchester United forward has left the job after just over a year in charge.

Initially appointed to the role in February last year, McClair officially took the reigns last June in a bid to continue the implementation of Henry McLeish’s recommendations in his ‘Review of Scottish Football’ report back in 2011.

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In a statement released by the Scottish FA, Chief Executive Stewart Regan said: ”While his experience of developing talent over a sustained period of time at Manchester United was a major attribute, being Performance Director requires a different style of leadership and focus.

As Performance Director, he found himself spending more time lobbying and presenting in the boardroom. It became apparent that this was neither a comfortable nor tenable situation in the long term.”

McClair knew what changes were needed. In fact, most of us do. We need to invest in more and cheaper indoor facilities, with a higher standard of coaching also a necessity.

Gordon Strachan and Brian McClair (Image: SNS)

There seemed to be a real disconnect between McClair’s background and experience from almost a decade at Manchester United’s academy and what is supposedly required by the governing body.

So, if McClair was not the man to sell the vision to clubs, it begs the question why give him the job in the first place?

He follows Dutchman Mark Wotte out of the door, who resigned from the post as Performance Director back in October 2014 after three years in charge.

Four years and two directors into the Scottish FA’s 2020 vision, has there been any progress?

Actually, yes. Seven regional ‘Performance Schools’ were set up to give the most talented U12s the chance to accumulate over 800 hours of coaching over their compulsory 4 years in high school.

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The first batch of players graduated in May this year and, of those 83 graduates, 20 have been involved in Scotland youth international matches over the past two years.

The most notable graduate, Kieran Freeman, represented Scotland at the European Under-17 Championships in Azerbaijan earlier this year. The left back has since signed for Southampton, who of course have a proven track record of developing players such as Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott. Incidentally, the Performance School at St John’s RC in Dundee, where Freeman attended, was set up by current Newcastle United assistant Ian Cathro.

Much was made of McClair’s ‘blueprint’, which proposed drastically refining the number of players in the Club Academy Scotland (CAS) structure, instead opting for a regionalised approach, with a a draft system to benefit young players from the top clubs also discussed.

The Scottish FA may still be intent on implementing his vision, but the next appointment will be absolutely vital not only for the credibility of the Scottish FA, but for the immediate future of the next generation of Scottish footballers.

Only in December last year did McClair and Strachan wax lyrical about using Iceland as the benchmark for youth development. It hasn’t worked out too badly for them, has it?